Ski areas upgrading chair lifts, adding tree trails and terrain parks

Burke Mountain has become the fourth ski area to add a wind turbine to generate electricity and Berkshire East ha added solar panels.

There should be less waiting and more skiing and snowboarding this winter with at least four areas adding new high-speed, high-capacity lifts to their mountains.

Ski areas are also continuing what seems like never-ending efforts to upgrade snowmaking, improving grooming and expanding woods skiing and terrain parks.

In Vermont, Mount Snow, Stowe and Burke Mountain are all adding new multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art chairlifts and they are not alone. In Massachusetts, Wachusett Mountain, in Princeton, is replacing its triple beginner chairlift with a $1 million high-speed quad too.

“That will make three high-speed quads for us,” said Tom Meyers, director of marketing at Wachusett. “The big advantage is it is easier to load and unload.”

Even the small Otis Ridge, located in the hilltowns, put in a new beginner tow lift to expand its easiest terrain.

“It is on a beginner trail that has not been opened in a long time,” said Jamie Carr, general manager of the area. “It was a lift that became available and we decided it was time to do it.”

The Vermont resort of Stowe this year replaced its aging high-speed quad, which was infamous for breakdowns. The new one will carry more people to the summit in a shorter period of time.

The smaller Burke Mountain, in Vermont, also added a high-speed quad to the upper part of the mountain which services most of its intermediate and all of its expert terrain. The area added a high-speed quad to its lower mountain where the beginner terrain is located, but many complained about the slower lift to the top, said Hannah Collins, marketing manager at Burke.

With Burke Mountain also adding a wind turbine this summer, the chair is considered the “net zero lift” because all the electricity needed to power it will be generated by the turbine, Collins said.

In keeping with its no-wait pledge that gives skiers a $10 ticket voucher if they have to wait more than five minutes in line, Burke will keep the older chair and run it when it is busy. “You never wait in line,” Collins said.

The area has also cut five new trails, bringing its total to 50, she said.

Mount Snow, in West Dover, Vt., is adding a state-of-the-art chair. The only other one of its kind can be found at the Canyons in Utah.

The $8 million so-called bubble chair is a six-person chair that has a cover which can be pulled down to protect skiers and snowboarders from the wind or snow, said Dave Meeker, communications manager.

The chair, which will run side-by-side with the area’s main chair, is replacing a slow triple, which took about 14 minutes to reach the summit. The new chair will cut the ride in half to seven minutes, he said.

“We chose to go with it for a number of reasons. We are in Vermont and it does get chilly,” Meeker said. “The technology behind this chairlift is the bubbles are more aerodynamic and we are hoping it will reduce the number of days it is closed for wind delays.”

The chair is expected to reduce lift lines at the base on busy weekends. Because there are fewer chairs on the line, but is not adding so much capacity that it is expected to crowd trails, he said.

Mount Snow also added computer monitors around the resort that will constantly update condition reports showing what trails are open. It also revamped one of its base restaurants, adding a gourmet burger joint, Meeker said.

Along with the new chairs, Vermont areas are continuing to expand its tree skiing and its after-ski amenities, said Jen Butson, director of public affairs for Vermont Ski Areas Association.

“There is more destination dining,” she said. “Jay Peak is opening The Pump house that is going to be so much fun.”

The Pump House is a new expanded indoor water park that includes a wave pool, where people can try surfing, and a poolside bar, she said.

A number of areas are bringing people to upper mountain lodges by groomers, sleigh or lift for specialty dinners, Butson said.

In New Hampshire much of the focus has been on putting in new summer attractions and apres-ski amenities. Zip lines, that allow people to travel on cables from tree-to-tree, have been added, mountain coasters have been constructed and there is more snow tubing, said Karl Stone, marketing director for Ski New Hampshire.

“We need to cater to more than just the diehard skiers and snowboarders,” he said. “You can come from Florida and you can snow tube or go cross-country skiing without no learning curve. Downhill (skiing or riding) there is a bigger learning curve,” he said.

Some of the improvements at mountains include:

Massachusetts:

At Blandford Ski Area, in the hilltowns, snowmaking has been upgraded and the area hired Holyoke’s Competitive Edge ski shop to provide new rental equipment and to redesign and run its rental shop, said Dave Fraser, marketing director.

Berkshire East in Charlemont has been refining its snowmaking system to make it more efficient, is adding new features to the terrain park and made some improvements to the lodge.



In its continuing effort to be green, owners also installed a solar panel field that is estimated to create about 500-kilowatts of energy. Last year it installed a 900-kilowatt wind turbine to the mountain, said Christopher Loftus, director of marketing.



Pittsfield’s Bousquet has added a new ticketing system that will have people buying one card. People can purchase a ticket online and it will activate the card so they never have to go to a ticket booth. The card will also allow people to track how many vertical feet they skied or how many runs they took, said Jeremiah Greco, marketing director.



Bousquet has also hired two recent graduates from Lydon State College who will be focusing on rebuilding its terrain parks. “We had a well-regarded terrain park and then it was off the map¤...¤They are being charged with putting up back on the map,” Greco said.



Butternut has a new Web site and a mobile Web site that will allow people to register for lessons and reserve rental equipment online by sending their shoe size and height and weight, meaning they will spend more time on the mountain and less in the rental shop, Matt Sawyer, director of marketing said.



The Great Barrington resort has also expanded its snowmaking and added two grooming machines, he said.



Catamont, in the Berkshire town of Egremont, replaced 70 of its oldest snowguns, mostly on beginner terrain, so it will be able to make more snow in less time. It has also widened sections of some beginner trails to make skiing and boarding easier and more fun for novices, said Rich Edwards, marketing director for the area.



After purchasing Cranmore in New Hampshire, and taking over the management of Bromley in Vermont, owners of Jiminy Peak have reviewed all three learn-to-ski programs and are taking the best of each to refine the ski school. Along with using new teaching techniques, each instructor will go through 24 hours of training before taking children or adults on the snow, Betsy Strickler, director of sales and marketing, said.



New Hampshire:



Loon Mountain, in Lincoln, has added two new trails in the South Peak area. It also added 167 new tower snow guns to upgrade snow making.



Sunapee officials expanded its gladed trails to nine with the addition of the Beck Brook Glades. It also added snowmaking to the Outer Ridge Trail. To better teach snowboarders, it has become a Burton Learn-To-Ride Center.



At Wildcat Mountain, in Pinkham Notch, improvements have been made to its base lodge and the snowmaking system has been upgraded.



Vermont:

Bromley Mountain has spend nearly $1 million to build a new 3,000 square foot children’s facility to tie in with the revamped learn-to-ski program from Jiminy Peak.

The mountain, in Manchester Center, is also celebrating its 75th anniversary and added a new expert glade trail on the East side of the area.

Killington snowboarders and skiers will have their choice of two new terrain parks, one designed for novices and another for the more advanced. A new skier/boarder cross course has been added as well.



A lift-serviced tubing park has also been added. It will be open after skiing, from 5 to 9 p.m. On weekends and holidays and during vacation periods hours will be extended from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., said Sarah Thorson, communications manager.



Magic Mountain, in Londonderry, expanded its glades skiing this year, with the help of a volunteer crew. Volunteers also raised money to refurbish the main Red Chair and the ski area has also repaired the three-person Black chair so it will be operating this season.



It has also expanded its snowmaking to cover about half of the mountain, said Geoff Hatheway, vice president of marketing.



The small mountain is also offering a creative deal to help people who have bought passes that black out long weekends and popular holiday weeks such as Christmas. The White Out pass, for $249, will invite skiers and riders to ski at Magic for 19 days during Christmas, February vacation and Martin Luther King weekend, Hatheway said.



Middlebury Snow Bowl, attached to Middlebury College has expanded its glades skiing to cover more than 500 acres this year, Butson said.



Okemo Mountain, in Ludlow, has added 25,000 boots, rental snowboards, skis and cross-country skies.



Stratton Mountain is celebrating its 50th birthday by adding new energy efficient snowguns and expanding its fleet of grooming machines. It has also cut four new trails in the Sun Bowl and added a terrain park to Big Ben.



It is also launching a new snowboarding school, Burton’s pilot Experience Snowboarding program.